The present invention relates to a method of attaching siding boards, and to a siding board attachment structure.
There are conventionally two known methods for attaching siding boards such as natural stone boards or ceramic board onto the wall of building, i.e. a so-called wet working method wherein siding boards are fixedly attached to a building frame by means of an embedding mortar or adhesive, and a so-called dry working method wherein siding boards are fastened to a building frame using a screw or a fastening member. The wet working method is advantageous in stabilizing the attachment of siding boards to a building frame, however, it takes a long time to completely cure the mortar or adhesive, frequently requiring a long working period. On the other hand, the dry working method is advantageous in that the fastening work is relatively simple and the working period is relatively short. However, if a screw is to be employed for fastening siding boards to a building frame, the head portion of screw is required to be hidden, while if a fastening member is to be employed for fastening siding boards to a building frame, the resultant structure may not be sufficiently aseismatic because the fastening of the siding board is effected by simply resting the siding board on the supporting portion of the fastening member.
There is also known, as a more improved fastening member, a structure as shown in FIG. 9 wherein a fastening member 50 is provided with an engagement portion 51 consisting of an upwardly inclined hook 52 and a downwardly inclined hook 53. In this case, the fastening member 50 is secured to a building frame 56 with a screw or a nail 55 while the downwardly inclined hook 53 engages with the top edge portion of a male portion 61A of a lower siding board 60A which has been attached in advance to the building frame 56. Thereafter, the groove portion (female portion) 61B formed at the lower fringe or edge of an upper siding board 60B is placed to engage the upwardly inclined hook 52, thus fastening the upper and lower siding boards 60A and 60B successively.
According to the siding board attachment structure using a fastening member having the aforementioned structure, since the upper fringe portion and the lower fringe portion of the siding board are placed to engage the downwardly inclined hook 53 and the upwardly inclined hook 52, respectively, the resultant structure exhibits a relatively high stability against a seismic vibration. However, since the upper siding board 60B is fastened in such a manner that the dead weight of the upper siding board 60B is supported by the upwardly inclined hook 52; it cannot therefore be said that the resultant siding board attachment structure is sufficiently stabile. Further, since siding boards are to be fastened while being rested on the upwardly inclined hooks 52, the actual attachment work is required to be performed in such a manner as to keep both upper and lower siding boards sustained horizontally (otherwise, the dislocation due to slipping may be easily caused, thus making it difficult to perform the siding work). As a result, the overall shape of the siding board is limited to a square configuration, and the attaching direction is also restricted, thus inevitably restricting the design of the resultant wall structure as a whole (for example, a monotonic square pattern such as a brick work pattern or a tile work pattern). Therefore, it is difficult to realize a siding work which is rich in design.
Furthermore, in order to hide the inclined hooks 52 and 53 of the fastening member, the lower and upper fringe portions of the siding board are required to be worked to have a special configuration as shown in FIG. 9.
In recent years, the kinds of siding board have become diversified. For example, a highly creative siding board 60 which is relatively small and thick (e.g. 35 mm.times.220 mm.times.455 mm) and provides a feeling of natural stone masonry as shown in FIG. 10 is now increasingly commercialized. The fastening of this kind of siding board is usually effected using a fastening member as shown in FIG. 9. Therefore, at least the upper and lower fringe portions of the siding board are required to be provided with a groove 63 which is adapted to be engaged with the downwardly inclined hook 53 and with the upwardly inclined hook 52.
When the siding boards of this kind which are relatively thick and rich in creativity as mentioned above are to be fastened to a building frame by arraying them in a multi-stage pattern extending in the vertical direction, it is generally desirable to fasten the siding boards in such a manner as to leave a horizontal joint, i.e. a space of some degree between the upper fringe and the lower fringe of the vertically neighboring siding boards, thus making the space visible conspicuously to the eyes and hence providing the resultant structure with a voluminous feeling.
However, it is difficult, if such siding boards are to be fastened using the fastening member 50 having the aforementioned structure, to perform the siding work while leaving such a deep space between the upper fringe and the lower fringe of the vertically neighboring siding boards. Even if it is possible to leave a sufficient space between the upper fringe and the lower fringe of the neighboring siding boards, the hooks 52 and 53 as well as the groove 63 that has been formed in the siding board 60 may be made externally visible, thus yielding an unsightly external appearance and hence failing to obtain a good design.